Earl Rose / Special to the Press-Citizen

Sam Becker / OUR Publications

Teri Breitbach / Special to the Press-Citizen

Elizabeth Catlett / Special to the Press-Citizen

Sam Becker

“When the university names a building after you and it’s not because you paid them to, you know you’ve done something right.”

That was one of the many comments that flooded Twitter and Facebook accounts after the Nov. 8 death of University of Iowa professor emeritus Sam Becker.

Becker is honored equally as a national leader in the field of communication studies and as a fully engaged local citizen.

Teri Breitbach

Teri Breitbach, best known for her 31 years with the Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre, is remembered by her friends and family for her compassion, positive attitude and loving spirit.

Breitbach died July 11 of ovarian cancer, a year and a half after she was diagnosed with the disease.

After earning a reputation as a talented puppeteer, Breitbach went back to school at age 55 to earn her nursing degree, something her husband said came very naturally to her.

Elizabeth Catlett

Elizabeth Catlett — who was among the first students to earn an MFA in sculpture from the University of Iowa — died April 2 at her home in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

Born in Washington, D.C., Catlett earned bachelor’s degree from Howard University in 1935. Catlett came to Iowa City in the late 1930s and was influenced by Grant Wood, who urged his students to portray the subjects they knew best.

Her work centered around black subjects, particularly women, for the rest of her career.

Bedica Ermilus

Back in March, then 3-month-old Bedica Ermilus was brought from her home in Haiti to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for surgery to correct a life-threatening abnormality in her lower digestive tract.

After undergoing a successful procedure, Bedica spent the next several weeks recuperating in the home of doctors Ginny Ryan and Chris Buresh, who had coordinated the months-long effort to bring her from Haiti to Iowa.

In early May, Ryan traveled with Bedica to return the baby to her family in St. Medard, Haiti. When Ryan left, the baby was in good health, but within days she developed a fever and diarrhea. She died on May 17.

“It emphasizes the injustice in the disparities in health care and quality of life,” Ryan said.

Ron Farber

Ron Farber, who died Sept. 27, will be remembered as a caring friend, a dedicated Hawkeye fan and an active member of the Iowa City community long into his twilight years.

When he wasn’t cheering on the Hawkeyes, Farber was involved in one of his many volunteer or philanthropic capacities with his community. And to Farber, there wasn’t a distinction between Coralville, North Liberty or Iowa City; it was all a part of his community.

Mauricio Lasansky

Mauricio Lasansky already was a larger-than-life figure in 1945 when UI president Virgil M. Hancher invited him to Iowa City to establish the school’s printmaking program.

It’s not surprising that Hancher would recognize Lasansky’s talent. But what is surprising is that the world-famous Lasansky decided to stay rooted in Iowa City for more than six decades.

And from his new home base in the American heartland, the Argentinian native’s artistic vision grew large enough to inspire students and professors at major universities throughout the globe.

Patti Mott

Longtime drama writer and teacher, Patti Mott — who died Aug. 9 of pancreatic cancer — is remembered by family and friends as dedicated, caring and talented.

As a pivotal founding member and former president of the Iowa City Community Theater, which began in 1956, and founder of Iowa City Young Footliters which started in 1982, Mott touched countless actors and drama-goers over the years.

Her Young Footliters program would still be considered groundbreaking if it kicked off today, let alone when it started 30 years ago.

Lauren Reece Flaum

When thinking back on Lauren Reece Flaum’s tenure as president of the Iowa City Community School Board, local residents remember her ability to sit through heated meeting after heated meeting and to listen respectfully to each and every voice. It seemed that — no matter how livid the crowd, no matter how divisive the topic, no matter how taunting and disrespectful the speaker — she managed to find a way to respond encouragingly and meaningfully.

Reece Flaum died July 2 of breast cancer. She was 52. She had been diagnosed with the disease 17 years earlier.

Throughout those 17 years, she proved herself to be the benchmark against which other community leaders should judge themselves.

Earl Rose

When he was 37, then Dallas County medical examiner Earl Rose found himself staring down presidential aides and secret service men in the aftermath of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Over the decades, more and more people have come to realize that — if Rose had been allowed to do his job and perform an autopsy on Kennedy’s body —there may have been a few more answers and a few less questions about those autopsy results.

Rose died May 1 at age 85. We’re confident he’ll be remembered much more for the exemplary life he lived in Iowa City over the past half-century than for the one autopsy in 1963 he was not allowed to perform in Dallas.

Tom Wegman

An avid motorcyclist and the former owner of Things, Things and Things, Tom Wegman became a paraplegic in 1986 after a crash during a race. But the condition didn’t stop him from continuing to evolve as an artist and businessman.

Instead, he and his second wife, Kathy Wegman, developed a shared love of bead art, and together they learned how to transform everyday objects into art by covering them with intricate beadwork.